Following Jesus: Judgment

The Fourth Sunday in Lent
March 14-15, 2015
John 3:14-21

“Following Jesus: Judgment”

Today’s Gospel lesson includes what is probably the best known passage in all of Scripture, John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” This little verse is sometimes called “the Gospel in a nutshell” because it sums up the entire message of the Bible in just a few words. Preacher and theologian, William Willimon, who served as Dean of the Chapel at Duke University, wrote of an experience he had with John 3:16. He was driving through the mountains of western North Carolina, winding his way along a narrow mountain road. He looked up and saw painted on a rock, in large white letters this message: “Prepare to Meet Thy God – Read John 3:16.” As a pastor, he was already familiar with John 3:16, but he shuddered to think of some other driver madly thumbing through his Bible to find John 3:16 when he should have been watching the road! Right after that sign painted on the rock was a hairpin curve that took him to the very edge of a cliff before the road wound back around the mountain. The sign was put there in case some drivers didn’t make it around that hairpin curve, and then they would indeed be meeting their God very soon. Do you think of judgment when you think of meeting God? Many people do, and so as we follow Jesus in this Lenten season, the focus of the message today on this Fourth Sunday in Lent is “Following Jesus: Judgment.” May the Lord’s rich and abundant blessing rest upon the preaching, the hearing, and the living of his Word for Jesus’ sake.

By popular standards in our culture today, one of the worst things you can be labeled is judgmental. “Don’t judge me!” “Wow, that is so judgmental!” “Who are you to judge me?” Does this extend over into faith? Perhaps underlying our deep-seated concern of being judged by others is an even deeper concern or fear of being judged by God. Today’s Scripture lessons speak of judgment, but also grace – underserved forgiveness and unbounded love. In that Old Testament lesson (Numbers 21:4-9), we are told that God sent fiery serpents among the people in response to their grumbling against God and Moses – that is judgment. Notice who the people speak their confession to: not God, but Moses. They confess their sin and ask Moses to pray to God in their behalf, and he does. God instructs Moses to make this fiery serpent of bronze, lift it up on a pole so that everyone who looks on it may live – that is grace. In the Epistle lesson (Ephesians 2:1-10), Paul speaks of “you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked… and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind” (Ephesians 2:1, 3b). How’s that for being judgmental? But it is also truth. And that is exactly where we start to squirm as we try to avoid God’s Word of truth that convicts and judges us. In order to try and save our dignity, we attempt to shift the focus from the truth that we are by nature children of wrath and put it on us and how offended we are. And yet there is a word of grace! “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ… For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:4-5, 8-9).

That theme of judgment as well as grace continues in the Gospel lesson for today. Jesus connects himself with that bronze serpent lifted up by Moses in the wilderness. He, too, will be lifted up on a different kind of pole. Jesus will be lifted up on the tree of the cross, “that whoever believes in him may have eternal life” (John 3:15). So where is the judgment? Jesus tells us: “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil” (John 3:19). And that is truth, isn’t it? Whatever our misdeeds are – the evil we have done and the good we have failed to do – we don’t want them to come to light. We don’t want them exposed for all the world to see and so we prefer the darkness. In order to protect our self-image and not have to suffer negative consequences, we think it may be just easier to keep everything in the dark. Actually, this is a self-imposed judgment, one which we place upon ourselves. And that becomes a terrible burden to bear. Complex systems need to be constructed in order to keep things in the dark and that can prove exhausting. God offers us a better way: “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17). This is where God’s amazing grace comes into play: the judgment that should have fallen on you and me was taken on by Jesus. The sentence of condemnation against our grumbling and pride, against our selfishness and rebellion, against all of our sin, was all taken on by Jesus. He stepped into our shoes, stood in our place, dying the death we deserved, and gives us freedom – freedom to step out of the darkness and into his own marvelous light. He gives us forgiveness, life and salvation.

Quite a few years ago, after I had written an article for church, a former member of the congregation responded and disagreed strongly with what I had written. I don’t even remember anymore what it was that I had written, but I remember clearly the parting comment of this individual’s response: “Better stick with John 3:16.” The clear implication was that John 3:16 was basic, elementary faith stuff and that was where I should focus my energies. Maybe it’s because John 3:16 is so well known that everyone thinks they understand it completely. Familiarity breeds contempt. And if not contempt, then complacency for sure. Is John 3:16 basic, elementary faith stuff? I don’t think so. Take out your bulletin for today and turn to the Gospel lesson. Get a pen or pencil, too. Look at that little verse of John 3:16, the “Gospel in a nutshell.” If someone asks you, “Hey, you’re a Christian, right? You go to church? So what exactly is the Gospel? What does that mean?” You could probably give all kinds of answers, but here’s the one that I think is best. Point that person to John 3:16. Now circle the following letters in that verse: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” That little verse of John 3:16 literally spells out Gospel; God’s good news in Jesus for you, for me and for everyone in the world.

Back to that story of “Prepare to Meet Thy God – Read John 3:16” up there in the mountains of western North Carolina. Are you prepared to meet God? The good news of John 3:16 is that God is prepared to meet you – not as an angry judge seeking to destroy you, but as the God of all grace who so loved the world – so loved you – that He gave his only Son that whoever believes in him may not perish, but have eternal life. What do we say or do in response to all of this? God calls us not only to be beneficiaries or recipients of his marvelous grace, but agents of his grace as well. He calls us to be Jesus’ hands and feet and mouth to carry his message of grace into the world, and join Jesus on his mission in our homes and neighborhoods, our schools, our places of work and leisure. In response to all that God in Christ has done for us, we can only say with the psalmist: “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!” (Psalm 107:1). Amen.